A Capitol riot defendant who was 19 at the time of the insurrection was sentenced to prison despite his attorney arguing that his brain was not fully developed.
Leonard Pearson “Pearce” Ridge IV, is the youngest person to plead guilty to charges related to the Jan. 6 attack so far. He pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of entering a restricted area in October.
Prosecutors say Ridge entered the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell during his 40 minutes inside the Capitol on Jan. 6. He also posted videos on Snapchat from inside the building including one where he yelled, “America first, bitch!”
He also boasted to his friends after the insurrection saying he “just made history.”
“Yeah just stormed the US capital [sic] for the first time in US history and I was a part of it,” he wrote in a Jan. 7 message.
“We bro [sic] down McConnells [sic] door and nacy pelosios [sic] door and raid the offices,” he wrote in another message later that day.
There’s no surveillance video to support Ridge’s claim that he destroyed property, broke down lawmakers’ doors or assaulted anyone while inside the Capitol, court documents say.
Ridge, now 20, sobbed in court on Tuesday and told US District Judge John E. Boasberg that “if I could do it over again, I would have never entered that building or done any of the things I did that day,” The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Prosecutors had asked for 45 days in prison. Ridge’s lawyer, Carina Laguzzi had asked for a sentence of probation only.
Laguzzi argued that her client deserves a more lenient sentence because some studies indicate that the human brain is not fully developed until their mid-20s. She added that the studies have prompted debates about what age a person should be held responsible for their actions and the United States Sentencing Commission has acknowledged age should be a factor, according to Newsweek.
“It stands to reason, therefore, a youthful offender such as Mr. Ridge cannot carry the same culpability as an adult with a fully matured brain,” Laguzzi said a court filing read. “Ergo, the same sentence [for] an adult in his similar situation as Mr. Ridge is not appropriate for this important reason.”
In the end, Judge Boasberg sentence Ridge to 14 days in prison saying that even though he did not commit any violent acts while inside the Capitol, he deserves some time in jail for his behavior.
“You intended to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, and that alone is a serious criminal act,” Boasberg said.
His sentence also includes one year of probation, 100 hours of community service, and a $1,000 fine.
